The news did not get the publicity it deserved, divided as the publicity was between the anxiety over Hurricane Milton and the not always pleasant sight of bickering in the wider Center Left.
Germany is expected to close 2024 in recession, marking the second consecutive year of recession for the European Union’s largest economy, once seen as the “steam engine” of growth for all of Europe.
And the problem is not only Germany, which is in danger of becoming economically the “Big Sick” of Europe. It is that the “United Europe” lacks economic dynamism as a whole.
Obviously it also reflects global trends, but for several years we have been used to seeing Europe have lower growth rates than other poles in the global economy.
At the same time, social discontent remains a permanent pattern throughout Europe. Because the energy problem created by the war in Ukraine may have been dealt with, but the increase in the cost of living, unaffordable for a large part of European citizens, remains.
And it is not just a momentary social discontent. It is a deeper and more comprehensive political crisis. An inability of political staff to convince that they can actually do their job. As a result, Akrodexia finds space and raises its head for good.
All this is also reflected in the “European institutions”. It is true that this time, unlike the previous one, we had no dramas in relation to the formation of the Commission and the filling of the remaining positions. But this does not mean that there will actually be a new European vision capable, if not of inspiring European citizens, at least of convincing them that it will solve problems. The hard bargain surrounding the Recovery Fund is, after all, very recent.
And it will not make things better that more and more the European policy of European governments is determined by internal policy criteria. See for example how Germany is essentially trying to overturn immigration policy in its government’s attempt to stop the advance of the Far Right.
At the same time, the European Union remains more embarrassed than ever in front of international developments without being able to draw up a distinct European policy. For the war in Ukraine, he simply took sides, without taking initiatives for peace, while in relation to what is happening in Gaza and Lebanon, he has kept the role of a spectator, again without any initiative beyond general statements.
But also in relation to the global economy, it is teetering on getting involved in a trade war that could at the end of the road have real costs for itself as well.
Add to all this that not only has there been no real self-criticism of the disastrous policies he imposed with the Economic Support Packages, but the logic of austerity and aggressive neoliberal policies remains dominant, threatening to trigger new dynamics of economic crisis.
In all of this it casts a heavy shadow and an ideological crisis as what is defined as the ideological “average” of the so-called “systemic” parties is most often a variant of the “Extreme Center”, which leaves great scope for the Far Right to claim increased influence to social strata that cannot recognize themselves in mainstream politics.
In this context, another invocation of “European values” is of little importance, such as those made from time to time by Emmanuel Macron, a politician who condenses this crisis of European politics.
If there is any meaning, it is perhaps to remember how “European Integration” was made.
Because even though it started as a “common market” it did not have markets in mind first and foremost.
There were other concerns: to rebuild, to stop being the field from which world wars start and are mainly fought, to have a pole of cooperation against the then Cold War division, to support the social contract in each country with a European social contract that would enshrine the welfare state.
It is true that along the way the markets got the upper hand culminating in the creation of the Eurozone. And countries like ours paid a heavy price. But the vision of a united Europe was never just about economic indicators. That’s why it would be worth it to pick up the thread again.
Otherwise we will continue to watch the steady decline of a European dream that risks turning into a nightmare.
